From the start, it’s been clear that Mulan would be different from previous Disney live-action remakes. A few have been photorealistic CGI confections (The Jungle Book, The Lion King), some have been near frame-for-frame remakes (Beauty and the Beast), others have inserted new storylines (Aladdin) and others have been complete rewrites (Dumbo). But the team behind Mulan made waves when it announced it wouldn’t be a musical at all but would adhere more closely to the original legend, blending that with the visual cues and beats of the animated classic.

Now it’s setting itself apart in one seemingly small but crucial way: It will be the first Disney live-action remake to receive a PG-13 rating for “sequences of violence” by the Motion Picture Association of America; the others have all been rated PG.

The first few trailers have shown a film that is less happy singing animals, more Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, with inventive martial arts fight sequences. Even with the music and humor of the original, Mulan is still, at its heart, a war epic. Though there won’t be blood, there will still be big battle scenes, a rarity in a Disney movie. Last year’s Maleficent: Mistress of Evil was the only one to date with scenes of war, and that movie garnered a PG rating. Even after the third-act battle with fairies and humans and magical creatures getting tossed around, nary a spot of blood was to be found in the pristine world of Maleficent. It made for a visually stunning spectacle, but not necessarily a realistic one. We can expect the action in Mulan, however, to hew a little more closely to something you’d see in a Marvel movie, plenty of grime and sweat and, yes, possibly some post-battle smears of blood.

It’s not much of a change, but for Disney, it’s a bold move. For starters, with the coronavirus outbreak in China shuffling movie release dates around like crazy, Mulan‘s Chinese release date could be bumped, meaning the studio automatically loses the world’s second-biggest moviegoing market in the film’s opening weekend. And Disney’s live-action remakes are meant to be family films; it’s rare they get a PG-13 rating, especially from Disney. To date, the only Disney Studios franchise to get the PG-13 treatment is Pirates of the Caribbean. But other franchises like Harry Potter and Jumanji have shown that a PG-13 rating can still be viable and lucrative in the family film genre. Clearly, Disney is confident that the PG-13 rating won’t affect the box office whatsoever and I’m guessing they’re right.

Mulan will be in theaters on March 27th. Get tickets here.

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